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Despite having run for a $20,000 claiming tag with no takers while winning her last start at Tampa Bay Downs, Midwest Thoroughbreds’ 6-year-old mare Lady of Greatness was second choice in Friday’s ninth race optional/claiming feature at Gulfstream Park and went wire-to-wire to score by 1 ¼ lengths over Wertheimer et Frere’s 9-to-10 favorite Shared Heart.

Jockey Leandro Goncalves made the trip down from Tampa Bay Downs to ride Lady of Greatness for trainer Jamie Ness and she raced to the front out of the gate in the 6 1/2 furlongs test for fillies and mares, setting a solid pace through a half-mile in 45:13, and turning back a mild challenge from Shared Heart at the top of the stretch.

Platinum Equestrian Corp.’s Bessie M finished 12 lengths back in third in the field of eight as Lady of Greatness paid $6.40 for and was timed in 1:15:09 over the ‘fast’ track. A Florida-bred chestnut daughter of Greatness, Lady of Greatness drew off to score by 11 ½ lengths last out at Tampa Bay on March 14 going 5 ½ furlongs with Goncalves aboard.

The jockey and trainer are runaway leaders in the standings at Tampa Bay this season and Ness has had considerable success shipping to Gulfstream as Lady of Greatness was his fifth winner from just nine starters.

Quote of the Day: Leandro Goncalves after riding Lady of Greatness to victory in the ninth race feature Thursday: “She’s very fast. She set a track record winning her last start at Tampa Bay (1:02 3/5 for 5 ½ furlongs). She went to the front today and was never really threatened.”

Who’s Hot: Jockeys Fernando Jara and Julien Leparoux each won two races on the Thursday card. Jara scored in the second and sixth while Leparoux went to the winner’s circle after the third and eighth races.

Work of the Day: Robert LaPenta’s 3-year-old Casual Trick breezed six furlongs in 1:14 flat Thursday morning for trainer Nick Zito as he prepares for a planned next start in the $1 million Wood Memorial (G1) at Aqueduct on Sat., Apr. 7.

A $425,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Bernardini, Casual Trick got his season off to a good start finishing second in the first running of $100,000 Gulfstream Park Derby going 1 1/16 miles on New Year’s Day, but has been a disappointment in two starts here since, first when eighth of nine after stumbling at the start of an allowance race on Jan. 29 won by El Padrino.

Zito indicated after that race that he had been compromised by a displaced palate. Casual Trick was given another chance in the Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) on Feb. 26 and again had some trouble when ‘bumped at the start’ and finished last of seven behind Union Rags.